DiMarzio created the Breed Neck Pickup in response to a request from Steve Vai for a fat, classic humbucker sound to contrast with the hotter, screaming Evolution-equipped guitars. The neck pickup is a bit louder and fatter-sounding than the PAF Pro pickups that Steve used on his earliest Jem guitars. Harmonics are easy to get, and 4-conductor wiring coil enables cool "notch tone" coil-splitting.

The guitar part is recommended for the neck position on bolt-on trem guitars and bridge position on set-neck fixed-bridge instruments.

As a neck pickup, the Breed has more than enough power to balance with high-output bridge pickups: it will work with the Tone Zone, Super Distortion and Evolution as well as The Breed bridge model. In the bridge position, it has a very warm, hot PAF tone--really smooth, with nice harmonics.